Winter Sowing 2024 – Why Winter Sow and Supplies Needed

In my last post, I talked about giving a glimpse ahead of the 2024 planting season. This year, for the first time, I am going to jump headfirst into the world of “Winter Seed Sowing” outdoors.

Well actually, that’s not quite true because last Winter I cleared ground outside (or at least I thought I had cleared it of weeds) and then I generously spread various types of perennial seeds like Columbine, Penstemon and others, then tamped them down with my feet and waited. Nothing happened. At all. No seedlings came up, and I think it is because we did not have any snow last year with average temperatures staying above the freezing mark, even at night. My guess is the seed I put down rotted and never had a chance, because they did not cold stratify. Or, it’s possible that some of those seeds are still there and might even germinate this year due to our colder temperatures and snow.

This year, I will still attempt to cold stratify my seeds, but this time I am going to use a somewhat more controlled environment for my plants to have a better chance at a head start in containers … outdoors. This idea of planting seeds outside in the Winter does feel a little strange, because when you buy plants at the garden center, you’re instructed not to plant them until temperatures have warmed up so the plants don’t die from exposure. But Mother Nature has been growing plants a lot longer than the garden centers, so the Winter Sowing process is intended to mimic what seeds would naturally go through.

A helpful explanation of what happens to perennial seeds from Prairie Moon Nursery, an excellent supplier of native North American seed, bare roots and plants. I have already gotten great results from planting bare roots from this supplier.

Namely, a perennial plant in the ground will generate seeds that, once pollinated, will ripen. Those ripe seeds will fall to the ground and lay on the surface of the soil. If the seeds aren’t eaten by birds, they can get rained on, frozen, snowed on, and go through Winter so the coating of the seed gets broken down. As the temperatures start to warm up, and the seed coating has sufficiently broken down, the seed will germinate. When that little baby seed germinates, it will send up two cotyledons, aka the “seed leaves” which essentially provide the little seed embryo with what it needs nutritionally until it can send up its “true leaves” which is when the plant really starts to grow.

But in order to mimic Winter Sowing an environment needs to be provided that will give the seed the best chance to survive. And that’s where various supplies are needed to make the magic happen. It’s not as inexpensive as taking a packet of seeds and putting them directly on the ground outside, but it’s still much less expensive than buying plants at the garden center. This is not to say it’s not worth it to buy certain plants from the garden center, because let’s face it, they have done all the work for you. You just go in and pick up a lovely healthy plant for a reasonable sum which, once planted, might stay in your garden for years. BUT if you want to have a ginormous selection of specific plants in your garden, and I mean both annuals and perennials, chances are you will want to grow those plants from seed because the garden center will not carry those plants.

There are many sources of seed on the internet and I have now purchased from many of them, but I don’t have any results yet to be able to say which companies have provided fresh seed which will give me good germination rates.

Supplies Needed for Winter Sowing:

• Seeds – preferably organic.
• Sterile Seed Starting Medium – preferably organic. Also, this is not potting soil.
• Containers – this could be as simple as a milk jug, or as elaborate a pre-formed potting trays.
• Mycorrizae Powder – optional. This might be a controversial ingredient for some people as a part of seed starter, but I am going to try to test the inclusion of mycorrizae with my seed starter for SOME pots and then plant other pots with the exact same seed without it and see if I notice any difference.
• Pump Sprayer – optional. Again, people have different methods they prefer for watering. Some people swear by a bottom method of watering where the water is placed in the tray underneath the seed pots so it can be absorbed through the roots. Others apply water from the top. I’m going to try to gently spray water on the top of the seed trays only if they need extra moisture. I am choosing this method because I don’t want to risk having the roots of the new plants rot in standing water.
• Fertilizer – optional. Preferably organic. Once the plant has established its true leaves and the plant is on its way to growing sufficiently to be planted out in the garden, a dilute solution of a gentle fertilizer is part of my plan this year. I use a de-stink-i-fied fish based fertilizer which is a powder and can be mixed with water. That’s going to go into my sprayer, at a 25% dilution rate. Plants will likely only get fertilized once or twice before they get planted out, but it is supposed to help prevent transplant shock.

What are the benefits of Winter Sowing?

• The pleasure of seeing the fruits of your efforts, and seeing the plants grow from seed (miraculous!)
• Less expensive than buying from the garden center
• More varieties of plants available to the home gardener based on extensive seed selections available online
• Easier to find space outside than growing the plants inside (with heat mats, grow lights and other equipment expenses)
• More controlled environment than putting the seed directly on the ground, which may help with germination rates
• No need to “harden off” plants, which is the process of exposing plants grown inside to more sun and cooler temperatures to prevent transplant shock

Now that we’ve talked about “why” Winter Sowing can be a good option, and we’ve covered some of the supplies needed to get started, in my next blog post, I will outline the process of getting the pots and trays ready to go outside and talk about some of the annuals and perennials I will try and grow this season!

Thanks for reading my gardening blog posts. I’d love to hear from you in the comments section!